BGU Researcher’s Peace Building Project Awarded USAID Grant of $760,000
BGU Researcher’s Peace Building Project Awarded USAID Grant of $760,000
September 26, 2011
Negev Development & Community Programs, Press Releases
BEER-SHEVA, Israel, September 26, 2011 — Prof. Alean al-Krenawi of the Charlotte B. and Jack J. Spitzer Department of Social Work at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) has just been awarded a $760,160 three-year grant from USAID for his project “Building Peace through Knowledge: The Palestinian-Israeli Case.”
Unwilling to let people-to-people initiatives dwindle as hope for a speedy Israeli-Palestinian peace reconciliation fades, al-Krenawi will bring together 40 Israeli and Palestinian human service providers and educators, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, school counselors, principals and teachers, who all have intensive contact with the general populations of Israel and the Palestinian territories.
“Human service professionals and educators in Israel and Palestine possess untapped potential to positively impact peace building and reconciliation in this most volatile region,” says al-Krenawi.
“They have the potential to proliferate a message of understanding, tolerance, forgiveness and reconciliation.” Al-Krenawi is a former chair of the social work department and is himself a Bedouin from the Negev.
Over the course of the three years, each participant will share knowledge and explore ways to facilitate reconciliation and forgiveness between their communities. They will also teach the tools and techniques that are developed to others within their respective communities.
Al-Krenawi believes that the program will foster stronger ties between the human service professionals, which will better enable them to deal with the trauma and bereavement from the conflict while, at the same time, becoming ambassadors for peace.
USAID is the principal U.S. agency extending assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms.
ABOUT AMERICANS FOR BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY
By supporting a world-class academic institution that not only nurtures the Negev, but also shares its expertise locally and globally, Americans for Ben-Gurion University engages a community of Americans who are committed to improving the world. David Ben-Gurion envisioned that Israel’s future would be forged in the Negev. The cutting-edge research carried out at Ben-Gurion University drives that vision by sustaining a desert Silicon Valley, with the “Stanford of the Negev” at its center. The Americans for Ben-Gurion University movement supports a 21st century unifying vision for Israel by rallying around BGU’s remarkable work and role as an apolitical beacon of light in the Negev desert.
About Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev embraces the endless potential we have as individuals and as a commonality to adapt and to thrive in changing environments. Inspired by our location in the desert, we aim to discover, to create, and to develop solutions to dynamic challenges, to pose questions that have yet to be asked, and to push beyond the boundaries of the commonly accepted and possible.
We are proud to be a central force for inclusion, diversity and innovation in Israel, and we strive to extend the Negev’s potential and our entrepreneurial spirit throughout the world. For example, the multi-disciplinary School for Sustainability and Climate Change at BGU leverages over 50 years of expertise on living and thriving in the desert into scalable solutions for people everywhere.
BGU at a glance:
20,000 students | 800 senior faculty | 3 campuses | 6 faculties: humanities & social sciences, health sciences, engineering sciences, natural sciences, business & management, and desert research.
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